Minorplanet: | yes |
2058 Róka | |
Background: |
|
Discovery Ref: |   |
Discovered: | 22 January 1938 |
Mpc Name: | (2058) Róka |
Alt Names: | 1938 BH1951 NP 1962 NA1963 UM 1978 AE |
Named After: | Gedeon Róka (1906–1974) |
Mp Category: | main-beltThemis  |
Orbit Ref: |   |
Epoch: | 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) |
Uncertainty: | 0 |
Observation Arc: | 79.18 yr (28,920 days) |
Perihelion: | 2.6682 AU |
Semimajor: | 3.1236 AU |
Eccentricity: | 0.1458 |
Period: | 5.52 yr (2,016 days) |
Mean Motion: | / day |
Inclination: | 2.5352° |
Asc Node: | 95.329° |
Arg Peri: | 180.50° |
Dimensions: | 21.12 km km km km km |
Rotation: | h h |
Albedo: | 0.0995 |
Spectral Type: | C S  |
Abs Magnitude: | 11.011.5 |
2058 Róka, provisional designation, is a Themistian asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 22 January 1938, by Hungarian György Kulin at Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary. The asteroid was named in memory of Hungarian science writer Gedeon Róka.
Róka is a member of the Themis family, a dynamical family of carbonaceous outer-belt asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.6 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,016 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.15 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Konkoly in 1938.
Róka has been characterized as a carbonaceous C-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey. Due to its ambivalent albedo it is also an assumed S-type asteroid.
In March 2005, a rotational lightcurve of Róka was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 10.04 hours with a brightness variation of 0.34 magnitude . One month later, astronomer at the Rose-Hulman Observatory obtained another lightcurve with a concurring period of 10.09 hours and an amplitude of 0.40 magnitude .
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Róka measures between 21.36 and 24.273 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.1196 and 0.1542. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0995 and calculates a diameter of 21.12 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.5.
This minor planet was named in memory of Gedeon Róka (1906–1974), a Hungarian science writer and popularizer of astronomy from Budapest. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 February 1980 .